


Gravity held

by Aryn



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Gen, Lightwood Siblings Feels, M/M, Post-Episode: s03e10 Erchomai, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 02:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14684760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aryn/pseuds/Aryn
Summary: “I’ll call Alec on our way back to brief him on what happened,” Izzy said.As she spoke, Izzy watched with mounting dread as Jace’s eyes went as wide as saucers and all the color seemed to drain from his face.“Oh my god, Alec,” he gasped.--Set directly after the final scene in 3x10. A glance into the Lightwood siblings' life following the mid-season finale.





	Gravity held

**Author's Note:**

> So, I'm not so sure how good this fic even is. It was just one of those things that I had to write to help me cope with all the feelings I had after watching the mid-season finale. Less than two hours later it was finished, and I figured I might as well post it because it felt weird to just keep it to myself.
> 
> Meanwhile another fic that I've been working on for LITERALLY MONTHS I haven't even gotten a thousand words into. That's just how this writing business goes, I guess. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr @steakandvodka
> 
> And as always, thank you for reading!

Izzy was the next one to get to the roof after Jace showed up. After both hearing and feeling the huge explosion up above, she and Luke agreed to split up. Luke chose to stay and help sort out Ollie and the rest of the freed mundanes, while Izzy went to investigate what happened at the top of the building. 

When she opened the door from the staircase, she was greeted by the sight of Jace and Simon standing a few feet apart in the center of the wreckage, no Clary or Lilith in sight. Aside from the obvious destruction they were standing on top of, Izzy could tell from one good look at the men that something was seriously wrong. Simon had the same expression he had at the hospital earlier that day after he lost his mom, and Jace’s face reminded her of when she and Alec found him inside his mind as he literally begged her for death. 

“Guys,” she said, her voice just loud enough to carry over the space to reach them, though neither turned to acknowledge her. “What the hell happened up here?”

Slowly, Jace turned to face Izzy, despair written in his gaze. “Lilith is gone. Simon banished her.”

Though the statement should have filled all of them with joy, there was clearly something Izzy didn’t know about that was keeping them from celebrating. Deep down, Izzy realized she knew what it was, even if she didn’t want to admit it. 

Through a heavy lump in her throat, Izzy forced herself to ask, “Where’s Clary?”

The tears that silently tracked down Simon’s cheeks was answer enough. But watching Jace bite his lip to hold back a sob, shaking his head back and forth as he looked at the ground was what made Izzy’s own eyes burn. She tried not to think of the bright-eyed, smart-ass redhead she’d grown so close to over the past few months, as she couldn’t afford to let her emotions destroy her as well. The time to grieve would come later. There was still work to do. 

But looking at the two devastated men in front of her, Izzy knew she had to spare some time for comfort. Striding forward, Izzy wrapped her arms tightly around Jace, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt her brother muffle his sobs against her shoulder. The force of their embrace spoke for itself. Pulling herself away from the blonde, Izzy walked over to also give Simon a hug a moment later. 

“I’m so sorry,” she breathed to him, to both of them. Simon said nothing, but hugged her harder nonetheless. 

Loathe as she was to bring the men back to their gruesome reality, Izzy knew what she had to do as she broke her embrace with Simon. Locking eyes with the vampire to make sure she had his attention, she said, “I really hate to rush you guys right now, but we need to get a move on before the mundane authorities arrive.” She looked over to Jace to see him examining the rooftop with raised eyebrows, as if he was just now becoming aware of the literal war scene they were standing in. Izzy was just happy to see her brother alert and himself again. “I’ll call Alec on our way back to brief him on what happened.”

As she spoke, Izzy watched with mounting dread as Jace’s eyes went as wide as saucers and all the color seemed to drain from his face. 

“Oh my god, _Alec_ ,” he gasped, fisting one hand in his hair. He looked like he was going to be sick, and suddenly Izzy felt like the temperature on the roof had dropped about thirty degrees. 

“Jace,” Izzy said in barely more than a whisper. “What happened. Where’s Alec?” She asked, a hard edge bleeding into her tone as she tried to tamp down her growing terror. She almost didn’t want Jace to answer, too afraid of what he might say. She could hardly handle losing Clary, but losing her older brother would surely break her for good. 

“I nearly killed him,” Jace said, his voice trembling, and Izzy couldn’t hold back her sharp gasp. “It was the Owl. I couldn’t stop it. I shoved an arrow through his chest, and… he- he would have died if Magnus hadn’t shown up just in time to stop me.”

As Jace was retelling the story, Izzy had whipped out her phone and pressed Alec’s speed dial. She sighed in impatience and tapped her foot against the floor as she waited, desperate to hear her brother’s voice pick up on the other end. “Come on, come on Alec. Pick up. Pick up the phone,” she murmured to herself, anxiety clawing at her insides with every second that passed. 

“Hello?” An exhausted voice finally greeted on the other line. The voice made Izzy’s heart drop to the pit of her stomach. On any other day, Izzy greatly enjoyed being in Magnus Bane’s company, but right now he was not the person she wanted to speak to. 

“Magnus,” Izzy said, trying not to let the sight of Jace paling in front of her send her into a panic. “Why are you answering Alec’s phone?”

“Alexander is fine,” Magnus immediately reassured her. “Catarina is taking care of him.” Izzy let out a sigh of relief, giving Jace and Simon a thumbs up. Jace sagged forward as all the tension drained out of his body at her signal. “I’ve been guaranteed several times by my friend that he will make a full recovery in due time.”

“Where are you now?” Izzy asked. Jace and Simon watched with interest as she nodded along to what the warlock said, hanging up a few seconds later. “They’re at Magnus’ loft. We need to go to them. We’ve already spent way too much time up here,” she said, pivoting around to start walking toward the stairs. Over the sounds of traffic below, Izzy could hear the faint blare of sirens growing closer, proving how little time the three of them had left to spare. 

“You guys go ahead to Magnus and Alec,” Simon said as he walked with them. “I need to go find Luke.”

Izzy and Jace paused at the top of the staircase to look at him in bewilderment. “Are you sure?” Jace asked. 

Simon nodded solemnly. “He needs to hear what happened from me.”

After a quick moment of silence where they let the gravity of their situation sink in even further, Izzy surged forward to take Simon in a short, but firm hug one last time. “Okay. We’ll see you soon Simon, alright?” She said as she held him. 

Simon pulled away from her gradually and nodded once in answer, a sort of resigned acceptance on his face that made Izzy’s heart ache for the vampire. In a flash, Simon had zipped out of sight in search of the werewolf. 

—

Izzy and Jace were panting when they reached Magnus’ loft, having run most of the way there. Jace was the one to pound on the door, probably a bit too loudly to be polite at that time of night, but neither of them could find it in themselves to care, both too anxious to see their brother alive and well with their own eyes. 

Magnus answered the door, the dark circles under his eyes the only obvious clue at how the last few hours had worn on him as well. Without giving either of them a chance to speak, he opened the door wider to allow them inside, gesturing with one arm toward his bedroom. “Catarina just left,” he said. “He’s awake, but he’s not fully healed yet, so please try to be gentle with him.”

From the direction Magnus had gestured in, the three heard a hoarse, yet familiar voice reply, “I’m not made of glass Magnus.”

Izzy beamed, finally allowing tears to pool in her eyes as she watched Alec round the corner to stand in front of them. His movements were stiff, but he was standing, and his eyes were warm and vibrant as he stared at his family. 

“Alec,” Izzy breathed in relief as she and Jace ran forward to hug their brother on either side. Alec’s long arms wrapped around both of them tightly, and Izzy’s smile trembled as she felt his cheek press on top of her head. She rubbed her hand up and down Alec’s back softly, all too aware of how breakable he was. Tonight she came so close to losing two of her brothers — too close for her to ever be comfortable with.

Their embrace lasted awhile, but finally the Lightwoods pulled away from each other, though they stayed close enough to be within arms reach. Izzy watched on, slightly puzzled, as Jace held onto Alec’s wrist on his right side after he pulled away, gripping the area so carefully, as though he expected it to disintegrate in front of him at any moment. Alec used the same wrist, still cupped in both Jace’s hands, to place his hand steadily on his parabatai’s shoulder. 

“I’m okay,” Alec whispered, eyes locked with Jace’s. As he said this, Jace finally seemed to relax completely, like a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. 

“You should be resting,” Magnus piped up, one eyebrow raised leaving him looking distinctly unimpressed even as his eyelids drooped while he leaned against the closed front door. 

“Yeah, and I told you the same thing,” Alec said, the ghost of a smirk gracing his features. “I guess we both suck at following orders.”

Magnus said nothing, but just rolled his eyes in response, closing his eyes to rest his head against the door. Izzy could see a glimmer of worry flicker in Alec’s eyes as he watched Magnus do so, so she rested one of her hands on his chest, ever so gently over his heart, to gain his attention.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said, looking over at Magnus the next moment. “Both of you.”

Magnus opened his eyes at her words to send her a smile, but there was obvious sorrow beneath his gaze. A quick glance back at Alec showed that his worry had only increased at Izzy’s comment, the shadowhunter not even trying to hide it anymore. But before Izzy could ask what the problem was, Alec spoke up first. 

“So what happened?” Alec asked, changing the subject. Izzy thought it best not to challenge him on it. “Catarina had just showed up to portal us here when we heard the explosion. Is Lilith gone? Did Simon banish her?”

Neither Izzy nor Jace answered him right away, and a tense silence settled over the room. She locked eyes with Jace, and Izzy could see how much pain it would cause him to retell the story. She didn’t want to be the one to make Jace relive that pain, but as she opened her mouth to speak, no words came out. Where would she even begin?  
  
As she was trying to come up with any words she could say to Alec, Magnus swooped in to save her. “Actually, I think this conversation would be best suited for the morning, don’t you think?” The warlock asked Alec as he pushed off the door and strolled toward the Lightwoods. “You’re right Alexander, I think we’re all in need of a good night’s sleep. You two are welcome to spend the night here,” he said with a quick nod to Jace and Izzy. “And tomorrow we can figure out our next steps. But for right now, I think we’ve all had our fair share of excitement for one day.”

Magnus’ light-hearted tone probably wasn’t the most appropriate for a night like this one, but Izzy couldn’t help but find herself grateful for it as it brought a small smile to Alec’s face.

Perhaps the full extent of what had happened hadn’t hit them quite yet. Perhaps the true impacts would devastate them all come tomorrow morning. But all Izzy really cared about in that moment was being with her family. 

Here, with two of her brothers safe and sound and alive in front of her, Izzy allowed herself to fall into a sense of safety and security that she hadn’t felt in months. She was content. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @steakandvodka


End file.
